A race!

The race had just begun, a race for life.

Sara's POV

It felt like a dream but at the same time it felt too real to be a dream, I stood close to the ray staring down at my parent's bodies and the blood that filled up a quarter of our living room.

"Mum…" the word couldn't leave my mouth. My once loud and excited voice sounded like a rock that fell into a river and was drowned by the endless supply of water.

"Ah!." I heard the screams of my younger brother followed by the sound of trashing and struggling.

I took my last glance at my mother and father before I took to my heels, running like my life depended on it but at this moment didn't my life depend on it?

I pushed my brother's bedroom door open, my eyes moved around his room but he was nowhere to be found.

I took the first step into his room.

"Did I step on something?." I thought.

I took a step back, inhaled and exhaled as I lifted my left foot above the floor gradually. 

I felt as though it was taking an eternity to move my trembling feet.

My eyes were glued to the ceiling wondering what I could have stepped on.

Maybe this was all a nightmare that had left me shaking in my bed, I summoned the courage to take a look at what had stopped me in my tracks and there… Once beneath my foot laid a finger.

"Sara…" My brother spoke readily.

The fear had left my body like a spirit being cast out into the wild, and I turned rigidly.

Behind me stood my ten-year-old brother. I took calm casual steps towards him, I placed both hands on his shoulders as he looked up at me with tears running down his eyes like an endless waterfall.

A smile widened my lips. "You're okay." I hugged him.

In his embrace I had no idea what to do or say, we both sat with our backs pressed against the walls of the lobby of our parent's house.

"Where is Mum?." He asked me a thousand times.

"Dead." 

———

The sounds of hurrying footsteps created the ears of the sleeping teenager as her eyes broke open in what seemed like fright but was rather rage.

She glanced at the child who was fast asleep in her arms. 

I cradled my brother Ali in my arms as I rushed towards the safe room, he was the only family I had and I wasn't letting whoever took my mother from me do the same with him.

I was a few steps into my parent's room when I heard the voices of strangers in my parent's room. 

"They have a son." I overheard them say.

"S…" I placed my hand over his lips before he could say my name out loud, the least thing I could afford to give out was my and his presence at their arm's length.

I placed my index finger across my lips and he nodded.

"No!, we need the girl!." I almost caught myself gasping in shock.

Could I have been the reason my parents were murdered in cold blood?

My lips twisted and my eyebrow rose in confusion and curiosity, how could I be the reason when I was always told that I was nothing but a stranger in their home?.

"A girl?." The man chuckled loudly.

Ali looked up at me, I could see his fingers had formed into a fist, how could I explain to him that this wasn't a regular incident when he had walked up to guests and asked them to treat me right?

"Don't!." I mouthed the word to him.

He exhaled deeply and nodded.

"I heard from an insider that she bears the Mark of the Niger Delta region ." The woman spoke proudly of me.

I didn't hear a word from the man.

"You have to go downstairs and hide in the kitchen pantry! I will come searching for you soon." I mouthed to him.

I was glad we always had to speak In public with our parents without our voice but rather by reading their lips which made it easier to communicate with my brother in such a situation.

Without wasting time Ali dashed down the stairs, I pray he didn't meet any obstacles on his way.

"What tribe?." He sounded more intrigued than he did when he first heard of my gender.

"The Benin tribe." I could feel her smiling from ear to ear just by the sound of her voice.

"What's special about my birthmark?." I thought out loud.

I facepalmed myself in the realisation that I had announced my location to these strange people.

"And where do you think you're going?." I heard the moment I turned around.

I was already taking to my heels when the sight of my younger brother weakened my bones, rendering me weak and defenceless.